


the lost boys

by InkWitch (serkestic)



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 19:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6127836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serkestic/pseuds/InkWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Does it hurt to touch?”</p><p>“Not if the touch is light.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	the lost boys

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The lost boys](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/178578) by moonsterm. 



> **Happy birthday, M!** I banged this out to make it in time for your birthday (literally found out three minutes after your birthday began) and I hope you like it. This was the first post of yours that intrigued me enough to follow you... and damn, it seems like so long ago.

 

 

Haru’s house was the same. Not a plant rearranged. Sousuke wondered if he kept it preserved for the sake of his grandmother’s memory; much like how Rin’s mother kept her bedroom unchanged from her wedded days, Tora-san’s wick rocking chair still in the southwest corner. He watched the boy in front of him turn his shoulder casually towards him, tilting his dark head back to give him a slanted look, the loose tee sliding down the gentle slope of his collarbones; and he thinks, no, this one has never been one for change.

They were here though.

And this time, his name fell from his lips with a familiar thump.

“Haru, did you literally just get out of bed?”

The tousled head turned away from him. “You woke me up.”

“It’s ten in the morning?” It wasn’t exasperation in his tone as much as incredulity. But Haru still hunched his shoulders, making a _tch_ sound under his breath. This dialogue, in turns out, was something Haru was already familiar with.

“Don’t be annoying. Do you want to eat the croquettes or not?”

His kitchen was familiar too. Sousuke was slightly surprised to find the food laid out on the countertop, obviously warm from the oven. They were back here, eating together. This time, there was nothing to say, no message to relay.

Sousuke and Haru idled at the table, quiet in the dim of the morning. The sky outside was rain-washed, a few silver clouds wafting through the neighbourhood wistfully; but the light, it was clean and refreshing. Outside, the world was breathing in relief, while inside the two boys watched each other and pretended not to be doing so. A closet crush in both their chests, held tighter by their tight-lipped mouths.

Sousuke and Haru wondered who would make the first move.

A sigh rose, rustling, up his throat, and Sousuke took his jacket off carefully. The glaze of the morning light shone on his tanned skin. Next to Haru, he looked darker than normal. It wasn’t fair that Haru’s tan faded so fast, he thought lazily, but nothing is ever fair when it comes to Haru. He always makes the first move, doesn’t he? It would be fair to expect Haru to make his move first, this time…

A time different from others…

When they were alone and quiet and together, as opposed to alone and quiet and surrounded by noise and people. People were useful, Sousuke reflected, people were good icebreakers. If Rin could be inside his head, sometimes, Rin would have so much to beat Sousuke up over. Not that he would win. Even with a busted shoulder, Sousuke could take Rin down–

 “Hey.”

He shifted. Sousuke turned his head towards the boy with the intense stare.

Haru bent his head. In the morning light, however, this was hopeless. Sousuke could see the faint pink colouring the back of his neck and ears. He shifted closer.

“…”

The stare landed on Sousuke’s arm and slowly travelled up, while Haru’s lips pursed. Lips that looked like they would lock away whatever secrets they were about to spill a second ago. Sousuke – he sighed to himself, and he thought, here I go again – and he moved his shoulder forward. Haru looked up at him.

“Does it hurt to touch?”

 _Here_ … Sousuke stared. The look in Haru’s eyes was almost defiant in its caution. He cleared his throat.

“Not if the touch is light.”

They were both quiet, so the heartbeat in Sousuke’s chest was a dull thud against his ribcage. The tempo might change but the flutter never came, only the anticipatory _thud thud thud_ in his chest as Haru drew closer, to his surprise, his increasing surprise.

The caress of his fingertips on his skin was so light that it felt like a butterfly had brushed its wings on him. He ignored his immediate urge to press into the touch; he watched silently as Haru stroked his palm down the line of his arm. Haru looked up at him with a questioning look, but Sousuke’s _thud thud_ had risen to his throat and there was not a word that could squeeze out past it. Haru’s eyes were gloriously blue, he thought faintly…

The lips that pressed to his skin was the gentlest pressure he’d ever felt.

He was being handled like he might be broken, and it took a second for him to wonder if that might not break him indeed.

Sousuke was lazy too, but he was better at making moves, pushing things along. Haru’s eyes widened in surprise when he was tugged forward, but he shouldn’t be surprised, really, when it was always Sousuke who made his moves confidently, without swagger but with assurance. Haru’s eyes closed.

A soft _hey_ hung between their lips.

Sousuke closed the distance.

 

 

 


End file.
